India said Wednesday it would step up its food distribution programme for the poor as a widening drought threatened to cut rice production by 10 percent and sharply reduce sugar supplies.
Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar also said the government would consider releasing wheat and rice from its reserves into the open market if their prices, which have already shot higher, increase further.
The monsoon rains, which sweep the country from June to September, are running at 29 percent below normal.
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